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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24192781">i wish you would</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/thevirtch/pseuds/thevirtch'>thevirtch</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Figure Skating RPF, Sports RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Eventual Romance, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Jealousy, Slow Burn, Slow Romance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 00:55:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,536</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24192781</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/thevirtch/pseuds/thevirtch</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tessa and Scott reconnect one night after their fight in late August two years ago</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Scott Moir &amp; Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir/Original Female Character(s), Scott Moir/Tessa Virtue, Tessa Virtue/Original Male Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>49</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>i wish you would</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>His phone rings at 2 a.m. and he wakes up with a start. Maybe it’s 22 years of holding her hand, but he immediately knows it has something to do with her. </p><p>“Hello?” he says, adrenaline coursing through his veins. He knows something isn’t right, the same way he can feel her presence when she walks into a room without even looking up.</p><p>“Scott? It’s Jordan. Something’s really wrong and she needs you.”</p><p>“What? What happened? Jordan, breathe,” he adds, because she’s in near hysterics and sounds like she’s a second away from a full-on panic attack. He thinks he might be, too.</p><p>“Okay,” he can hear her swallow, take a deep breath, and continue, “Colin’s gone. She’s in the bathroom and she won’t let me in and...and I’m afraid she’ll do something stupid. Please, Scott. I don’t know what to do,” Jordan cries, her voice full of desperation.</p><p>His heart falls to his stomach as he tries to comprehend this information. The last time he spoke to Tessa was that night, that night in late August two years ago. That night when they had the worst fight both of them had ever experienced in their entire lives, when they left each other broken into a million pieces and he’s been trying for the past two years to build himself up back again. He doesn’t know why Jordan is calling him, since he’s probably the last person Tessa would want to talk to.</p><p>“Where are you?” he says, even though he already knows. Try as he may, he couldn’t bring himself to stop keeping up with her life after that night, no matter how frustrated he was at her. He cares too deeply about her, keeping up with all their old skating friends to get any scraps of information he can about her. From what he’s gathered, she’s been in London, her hometown, for the past year. She and Colin moved into her mother’s house there a few months after she stopped picking up her phone, and with that she disappeared from his life completely. </p><p>“London. Can you come?” Jordan asks in a strained voice, and before he knows it he’s grabbing his car keys and rushing out the door, driving the all too familiar route to her house.</p><p>He’s been spending the past two years trying to live without her, trying to fill the empty spaces she left behind. His engagement with Vanessa didn’t last long after Tessa moved away, after she cut him out of her life and never looked back. He doesn’t even notice how caught up he was in his own thoughts until he realises that he’s in front of her mother’s house where they spent most of their free time, back when they were kids and each other’s best friend.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Scott, what’s wrong?” Tessa asks, rubbing his shoulder as she sits down beside him under the oak tree in her backyard. It’s Jordan’s birthday party, but her best friend is sitting alone, looking so unbelievably sad, you would think he was just told his puppy died.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Nothing,” he says quietly. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Are you mad at me?” Tessa asks. She’s almost his height now, and looks concerndly at him. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “No, it’s nothing,” he sighs, and it’s only then that she realises he’s been crying. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Did I do something to hurt you?” She says her worst fear aloud, and can’t help but feel guilty. For what, she doesn’t know. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> He shakes his head, refusing to look at her.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “You know you can trust me, Scott. You can tell me anything. We’re partners,” she says simply, and he finally looks at her, eyes filled with so much hurt. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “We aren’t going to be partners anymore,” he says, voice shaking. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Why would you say that?” She asks, truly bewildered. This isn’t Scott. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Because Mom told me you were going to choose ballet. You promised me, T. You promised me you wouldn’t leave me,” he finally admits. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “What?” She replies, because she’s so taken aback by this piece of information. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “And now I have to skate with some other girl, but no one is as good as you. And Mom told me not to say that, because you’ll be sad, and you didn’t do anything wrong,” he finishes, tears falling onto his cheeks and dripping onto the green grass. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I’m not choosing ballet, Scott. We promised, remember?” She says, taking his hand in hers. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> When he doesn’t respond, she continues, “we promised, and I don’t break promises. I’ll always choose you.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Promise?” he asks, squeezing her hand. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Tessa sticks out her pinky and they pinky swear, and it’s that easy.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Promise,” she responds.  </em>
</p><p><em> “You’re the best partner ever,” he says, and she blushes, feeling butterflies in her stomach. </em> </p><p> </p><p>When Scott pulls up to her house, it’s dark and Jordan is frantic on the front doorsteps, rushing up to him as he parks his car.</p><p>“Scott, thank God. She’s in the bathroom,” she tells him, and he’s out of the car and rushing into her house.</p><p>The smell of their childhood hits him as he steps into the living room, and pictures of them at various ages hang on the walls, just like they did the last time he was here: of them both smiling, laughing, hugging. She never took them down.</p><p>The bathroom door is locked, and he can hear her breaking down inside.</p><p>“Tess?” He knocks once, and he can hear the hitch in her breathing.</p><p>“It’s Scott,” he says, and he can hear her sniffle and the sound of tap water running. A few seconds later, a swollen-eyed Tessa opens the door, and collapses into his arms.</p><p>“Oh, Tess. I’m here. I got you,” he whispers into her ear.</p><p>She stays in his arms for a while, sobbing into his shirt. In his periphery, he sees Jordan look at him and he nods at her, letting her know he’s able to handle it. She mouths a “thank you” and leaves, and it’s just the two of them, Scott and Tessa, in the house. He realises it’s been two years since they were alone together, and that more than anything makes his heart ache.</p><p>“Hey, T, it’s going to be okay,” he says, not really believing it himself, but knowing that he has to calm her down.</p><p>She shakes her head, but her breathing gets steadier, and she finally looks up at him, face blotchy from all the crying.</p><p>“It’s not. He left me,” she says, but she doesn’t sound as exasperated as she did a few moments ago.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Tess,” he says</p><p>“I’m not sad about that,” she confesses, and sighs. He walks her to her sofa, and she leans against him, just like they did on those stolen nights before a competition when neither of them could fall asleep, and they would stay up talking for hours on end. It feels like home.</p><p>“I didn’t call you back,” she says, after a moment of silence.</p><p>“We don’t have to talk about that,” he replies, because he knows where the conversation will inevitably lead to and he doesn’t think he’s ready for that yet.</p><p>“I didn’t pick up when I should have and you kept calling and I didn’t know what to say to you even if I did pick up the phone,” she says in one breath, and tears threaten to fall again.</p><p>“Shhh, Tess,” he says, planting a kiss on the crown of her head.</p><p>She just shakes her head again.</p><p>“It’s my fault. I ruined us. And you hate me,” she breaks down, the worst kind of crying Scott has ever seen, soundless and laced with regret and hurt and a million other emotions that threaten to topple her over the cliff. She’s shaking against him, sobbing as if trying to make up for all the pain of the past two years.</p><p>“I could never hate you, Tess,” he responds, holding on to her tightly. He brushes away a tear from her face. He can’t bear to see her cry.</p><p>“How’s Vanessa?” She asks suddenly. Scott is so startled by her sudden change in tone that he’s lost for words.</p><p>“We broke up,” he says after a moment, and then adds, “Geez, T, ever heard of whiplash?”</p><p>In spite of herself, she laughs, and before long he starts laughing with her too. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Have you ever wondered if soulmates exist? Like, your other half is out there, somewhere, waiting for you to find them?” he asks her one day after training. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Probably,” she shrugs, getting into his car. They were invited to a party, a rare occasion since they rarely have any free time in the months leading up to the 2010 Olympics. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “You’ve never thought about it?” He asks, tilting his head in her direction. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I don’t know,” she replies truthfully. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Have you never had that spark with another person before?” he presses. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Not really. Have you?” She lies, hoping the conversation would end soon. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Come to think of it, no,” he says, making a turn to a house where the music is turned up so loud, she’s surprised that the police haven’t been called yet. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I think that’s a sign that we hang around each other too much,” she jokes, and he laughs. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I guess it just means we haven’t found our soulmates,” he concludes, looking dissatisfied with the conversation. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Maybe,” she says, but deep down she knows that she’s found her soulmate, sitting next to her in his car. It’s this moment when she realises that she will never love anyone the way she loved Scott. The way she loves Scott. Present tense. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“What happened between you and Vanessa?” she continues. He knows she’s avoiding thinking about her feelings, and the least he can do is distract her with his own.</p><p>“We weren’t meant to be,” he says, because it’s the truth.</p><p>“Not your soulmate?” She asks, smiling at him playfully.</p><p>“No. I think we both know that,” he says, testing the waters. He knows where she’s going with this.</p><p>Her smile fades away, and her expression transforms into a guarded one, the one she’s always used in front of the public, to push away any thoughts and confusion she had.</p><p>“He wasn’t my soulmate either, you know,” she gives him a sad smile, as if this was some sort of secret they both shared with each other and only each other for the past two years.</p><p>“What did you mean, when you said you weren’t sad about him?” He questions, knowing that if he didn’t ask her now, she’d drift too far away from him and he needs to know.</p><p>She takes a deep breath and says, “I knew he wasn’t the one, from the moment we met. I’ve been living a lie for the past couple of years. I tried so hard to convince myself that I could give my entire heart to him.”</p><p>And he understands her completely, because he, too, knows that you can’t wholeheartedly love someone when your heart already belongs to someone else.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> She’s had two cups of beer and is beginning to think that it’s a bad idea when a random guy offers her a third. She accepts it, because she doesn’t want to be rude, and walks away, making up some excuse about having to go to the bathroom, when in all actuality she's trying to find Scott to take her back to her apartment. Just when she’s about to give up and call a taxi, she sees him, tongue down the throat of some girl he probably just met, kissing her in the way she’s only seen in movies.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> She’s hit with the sudden urge to throw up, so she rushes to the bathroom and retches up the contents of her stomach, until there’s nothing left. She sits on the bathroom floor, sweaty and tired, and when everything is out of her system, she’s only left with her feelings of jealousy, of yearning, and of frustration. At Scott, at the girl he was kissing, at herself.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> He’s not doing anything wrong, she yells at herself, mind screaming with ugly thoughts. He’s allowed to love whoever he wants. He isn’t yours. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> She throws up one last time, flushing the toilet of all her remains along with any hope of being with him. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> She distances herself from him as soon as she gets off the ice. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Tess! Hey, Tess!” He yells, trying to catch up to her after they leave the rink. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “What do you want, Scott?” She says, tone bitterly cold. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Woah! What’s wrong?” He asks, face etched with concern. She almost laughs at his ignorance. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Nothing’s wrong,” she replies, cold as stone. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “T, don’t lie -” he starts </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Shouldn’t you be with your girlfriend?” She emphasises the word girlfriend, as if it’s a profanity. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Is this why you’ve been ignoring me all week?” He asks, a pained expression on his face. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I haven’t been ignoring you, Scott,” she lies through her teeth. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Yes, you have,” he counters. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> When she doesn’t respond, he continues on to say, “can we talk, please?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Since when do you have to ask for permission to talk to me?” She snaps, frustration bubbling inside of her. She knows her anger is misdirected, but she isn’t thinking clearly and needs to blame her conflicting emotions on someone. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Tess. Please,” he begs, and she drops it. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Listen, I know our relationship is complicated. But you’re the most important thing in my life,” he says, looking at her intently. She looks anywhere but towards him. She almost wants to scream, “well, you don’t act like it!” in his face, but quickly decides against it. He’s the one that’s going to be lifting her tomorrow in the competition anyway, and she doesn’t want to risk it. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “We can’t ruin this partnership. Okay? We’ve worked too hard for this. We can’t, we can’t keep playing this game. This game where we pretend like everything’s okay, when it isn’t. We can’t be together, I know. I’ve accepted it. We promised not to fall in love with each other. Remember?” he reasons, taking her hands in his. It’s warm and familiar and so Scott. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I’m scared, Scott,” she says, still avoiding his gaze. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I know, I am too. But we have to stop acting like it’s an option. It’s not. We’re going to end up hurting each other if we allow ourselves to open up the possibility of us being together. It can’t happen,” he repeats, and she can hear the pain in her heart mirrored in his tone. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> She knows all too well what he means. It’ll break them, because they care too deeply about each other, and their partnership wouldn’t survive it. Hell, they wouldn’t survive it. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Promise me, Tess?” Scott asks, and they’re back to being kids, sitting under the oak tree in her backyard, pinky swearing to always choose each other. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Promise,” she says, but this time she isn’t sure if she means it. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Why’d you come here?” Tessa asks, once she changes into something more comfortable and settles into her bed, Scott’s arms around her.</p><p>“I had to,” he says simply.</p><p>“No, you didn’t,” she says, looking at him.</p><p>“No, I didn’t,” he echoes her words, sighing, “I came here because it was you, Tess. Because I didn’t think I could live with myself knowing that you needed me and I wasn’t there,” he confides, voice cracking at the end.</p><p>“I wasn’t there for you when you needed me,” she says, voice dripping with spite.</p><p>“We both weren’t, T,” he reasons, and she curls up to him.</p><p>Her body fits perfectly against his, like they were made to love each other. </p><p>“I was so unhappy, for the longest time. Colin and I, it wasn’t right. I knew it wasn’t going to work out. But I had to move on. You had Vanessa, I had to have someone. It didn’t matter that I still felt empty, like part of me was missing,” she admits, staring blankly at the wall.</p><p>“We were both unhappy. All those years of trying to force a relationship with someone who wasn’t you was torture,” he replies, the truth sneaking up to them like an unexpected stranger.</p><p>She’s silent, processing his words. She knows she’s the most vulnerable she’s ever been at this moment, but at the same time, she’s never been more sure of anything else.</p><p>“We promised not to fall in love,” she says inconsequentially, trying to decipher the look on his face. </p><p>“Yeah, and look where that got us? Broken, single, crying at 3 a.m. in your childhood bed,” he says sadly, and breaks eye contact with her.</p><p>“Why did you make me promise that, then?” She isn’t upset, or even remotely angry at him. She genuinely wants to know, <em> needs </em> to know why.</p><p>“I don’t know,” he responds.</p><p>“I think you do,” she says.</p><p>“Because I didn’t want to hurt you,” he says automatically, his go-to reason for everything that has to do with Tessa.</p><p>“That’s bullshit, Scott. You know that,” she says, daring him to say what neither of them could when they were still partners.</p><p>“Tess, could we-” he starts, pleading with her to change the subject. Not now, he thinks, he can’t do this now.</p><p>“No. Why can’t you say it? We both know it,” she shoots back, burying her face in her hands.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> It’s late when Tessa calls him, voice trembling. It’s 2 a.m. when he pulls up to her apartment, and hugs her close to him. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Why do you even like him, T?” he asks after she’s calmed down.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I don’t know. He makes me feel special? Because he calls me pretty and acts like I’m the only girl he knows?” she states, but it’s more of a question than an answer. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Tess, everyone thinks you’re pretty,” he says sincerely. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “That’s not true,” she replies, leaning into his chest again, “He told me I didn’t deserve him.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “He’s a dick, Tess,” he says, not letting her go, being her rock as she falls apart. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “He said he loved me,” she adds, as if trying to reason with herself why she let that loser into her life in the first place. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I bet he did,” Scott says frostily. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “No one’s ever said that to me before, you know?” She says, and that stops him short. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I love you, Tess,” he professes, leaning close to her head and breathing her all too familiar scent. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “You know what I mean,” she says tiredly. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Tess. Tessa. Look at me,” he says, gently tilting her chin up to face him. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I love you. And I’m sorry you think your sorry excuse of a boyfriend is the only person in the world who does,” he says, and for the first time, he kisses her, lips against hers, concentrating the past twenty years filled with regret and unspoken words into this one kiss. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know what you want me to say,” he says, frustration building up inside of him. They are moving into dangerous territory. They both know what they should say, but they’re too afraid to.</p><p>“Don’t do this, Scott. It was fine when we were just skating partners. But we aren’t anymore. That’s over. We don’t have to keep pretending,” she replies.</p><p>“I was trying to protect you,” he reasons, because he doesn’t know what else he can say.</p><p>“That’s what you always say. I’m not fragile, you know,” she responds in a mildly accusatory tone.</p><p>“You think I don’t know that?” He asks, his pained tone betraying him.</p><p>“Then say it,” she dares him.</p><p>He stays mute, running his fingers through his hair exasperatedly.</p><p>“I remember that kiss, Scott. I know you do too,” she decides to take the straightforward approach.</p><p>“It was a mistake,” he says, even though his tone says otherwise.</p><p>“You really think so?” She challenges.</p><p>“It ruined us, T. I should never have overstepped the boundaries we set up,” he says.</p><p>“But you did. Why is it so easy for you to act like you don’t feel this?” She gestures at the space between them, and knows he feels exactly the way she does.</p><p>“It isn’t easy,” he admits.</p><p>“Then why can’t you say it?” She’s really angry, now.</p><p>“Because we promised, Tess!” He cries, his walls crumbling down.</p><p>She doesn’t yell back, but he would’ve rather she did.</p><p>Instead, she laughs humorlessly, and says icily before leaving the bed, “What’s the point of a promise if you don’t keep it?”</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <em> That night in late August was the worst night either of them had ever experienced. They hadn’t seen each other in a couple months, agreeing to take the time apart to take a breath after the PyeongChang Olympics. Team Canada had invited them to a party, and they’d both agreed to go, even though the last thing they wanted to do was be seen together at a club. The media scrutiny was unbearable, and they couldn’t even go two seconds before feeling awkward together. It didn’t help that they both had significant others, who didn’t take kindly to the onslaught of hate from their fans. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Scott quickly gets pulled into doing a round of shots, and someone has the genius idea of betting on who can down the most shots. It isn’t before long that a crowd gathers and the trash talk starts.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Hey, Scotty. Where’s your girlfriend?” Andrew yells, taking a shot and banging the class so hard on the table it’s a miracle it didn’t break. They’ve lost count of how many shots they’ve taken, and bets are on either Scott or Andrew. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Don’t push it, Andy,” he retorts. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Aw, I’m sorry Scotty,” Andrew says in a mocking tone, using the name he knows Scott absolutely detests. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Go screw yourself,” he replies, and he gets an appreciative “ooh” from the spectators. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “At least I’m not screwing my partner,” Andrew says, and there’s an audible gasp from the crowd. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Scott lunges at him, and the men in the crowd have to rush in to stop Scott from breaking Andrew’s nose. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Tessa’s engaged,” Andrew spits, taking another shot. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> All of Scott’s bravado fades with that one line. He tosses a wad of cash onto the table, and walks out of the club. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> She sees it happen in front of her very eyes. Everyone’s attention is on her now, looking to see how she’d react to Andrew’s announcement. Her blood runs cold. The remark was so out of left field, she didn’t see it coming until it hit her squarely in the face. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “What the fuck, Andrew?” She screams, then rushes after Scott. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> She isn’t fast enough, though. She can’t find him anywhere, and she dials his number. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Pick up pick up pick up please please please pick up,” she chants under her breath, each word filled with more and more desperation. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> The line connects, and she thanks her lucky stars. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Scott! Thank God,” she says with a sigh of relief. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “T? I love you,” he slurs his words, and she knows he’s drunk. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Are you okay?” She asks, because she doesn’t know where he is and God forbid he’s drunk driving back to his place. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Do you love me?” He responds, ignoring her question entirely. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Scott, I need you to tell me where you are,” she says patiently. She’s starting to panic. He’s clearly unstable and she needs to get to him. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Do you know how much I love you?” He asks, as if she didn’t say anything. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Scott, please, I need to know you’re safe. Please tell me where you are, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t know you were safe,” she pleads with him. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> He laughs morbidly, then asks, “Does he love you?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Scott.” She’s getting frustrated. If only he would just answer her question, let her know where he is, instead of asking drunk questions that he won’t remember come daylight. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “He doesn’t love you the way I do,” he says, </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “You don’t know what you’re saying,” she replies, shaking her head. He’s drunk, she tells herself, he isn’t thinking clearly. “Scott, you’re drunk,” Tessa says exasperatedly, trying not to lose her temper. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Aren’t drunk words sober thoughts?” He responds. Even on the phone, she knows exactly what his expression looks like, knows precisely how he’s feeling. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Scott, for the love of God, just tell me where you are!” She’s yelling into the receiver, and any rational thought is tossed out the window. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Do you love him?” He seems completely unbothered by her change in tone. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Of course I do!” She’s upset now, angry at him for thinking he had any right to have a say in her relationship. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “That’s real funny, Tess,” he says icily, laughing into the receiver, “really funny.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “What’s that supposed to mean?” She screams, frustration building up at the fact that her words seem to have no impact on him. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “He’s going to break your heart one day, and he won’t even feel bad about it. No one will ever love you the way I do,” he says, and even though she knows there’s a ring of truth to it, she’s so angry at him and the world and his audacity to play with her feelings that she yells, “How dare you, Scott? How dare you say that and how dare you tell me you love me? We promised, Scott! All those years ago! I kept my end of the promise.”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> She disconnects the call, and throws her phone on the ground. It shatters into smithereens, glass littering the street, glinting in the glow of the streetlights. She never answers his calls again. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>He finds her in her childhood bedroom, and in her hand is a letter that he doesn’t recognise. She’s silently trying to hold back tears, and feels rather than sees him come in.</p><p>“You don’t have to stay, you know,” she says, voice barely audible.</p><p>“I know. I remember that kiss, T. I remember not regretting it, then hating myself for not regretting it. The truth is, it broke us,” he replies, sitting down on the floor, shoulders brushing against hers.</p><p>She nods in silent agreement.</p><p>“We were never the same, after that kiss. And I don’t think I could forgive myself. But, it felt so right, Tess. It felt like we were meant to fall in love,” he says.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> A week after Scott kissed her, she invited him to her house on Friday for dinner. It was a weekly affair, having started since they were just seven and nine, but this felt different. Ever since she tasted him, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. Is this what the fuss is all about? she thinks to herself. All those wasted years of pining after each other, and they finally did it. They finally kissed. And it was magical. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Everything would be different, now. How could it not be? They’d kissed, after all. It was official. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Until it wasn’t. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Friday rolls around and she’s stopped by the store to get a handful of roses. God, she was such a romantic. But he was worth it. She pens down her letter in the card that came with the flowers, carefully choosing each word and writing in her best penmanship. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> When she hears him pull up to her house, she almost jumps for joy. That’s when she sees her. Vanessa, laughing with Scott, then placing a chaste kiss on his lips. She doesn’t see anything else, doesn’t feel anything else. Her whole body goes numb. She chucks the roses and the card into the dustbin, away from her sight. She thinks she might throw up, but pulls it together and places the fakest smile on her lips as she greets him at the door. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Dear Scott, I love you. I wish you knew that you’re the only person I’ve ever truly loved. I wish I’d told you sooner. Love, T. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“We never did get the timing right, did we?” She says, giving him a sad smile. Her tears are sparkling on her cheeks, and she wipes them away on the back of her hand.</p><p>He reaches out to brush a strand of hair that’s stuck to her face.</p><p>She passes him the letter, the letter she wrote after their first kiss, filled with so much love and hope and passion and desire. He reads it once, then closes it and places it on the ground.</p><p>“Oh, T. We really screwed things up, eh?” He says in the most delicate voice.</p><p>She nods, but says “it doesn’t matter. You’re here now.”</p><p>“I was scared. So scared, Tess. Scared of being with you, risking everything,” he starts, and she looks at him expectantly.</p><p>“But now I know you’re worth the risk,” he says, and their lips crash into each other’s, tasting of love, and regret, and a hint of desperation.</p><p> </p><p>His fingertips brush the side of her face as she deepens the kiss, savouring every moment. She takes off her shirt, and he says, “we don’t have to do this, not if you don’t want to.”</p><p>“I want to. I want you. I need you,” she says in between gasps of air. She moans against him, and he removes his shirt, and she’s so grateful it’s a button-down because he doesn’t have to break their kiss.</p><p>“Please, Scott,” she begs, and he knows exactly what she needs.</p><p>He picks her up, the way he’s done so many times on their dance lifts and on drunk nights when she couldn’t walk, and sets her down onto her bed.</p><p>He kisses her neck, sucking on her pulse point, and she feels his erection press against her. She lets out a small sigh, fingers in his hair, rubbing small circles around the side of his head. Slowly, he plants a trail of kisses down her collarbone, on her breasts, moving slowly towards the apex of her thighs.</p><p>He’s so gentle, and every kiss is magnified and leaves her wanting him more and more. She’s trying to stay still, but this is so intense and she writhes uncontrollably under him. He tries to steady her, and almost manages to do so, but he kisses her inner thigh and she swears she almost explodes, letting out a cry. </p><p>“Tess, hey,” he strokes her hips, and his lips are so close to her entrance, she might just lose any sense of self-control and thrust herself towards him.</p><p>She can feel his breath on her, and she keens, body jerking upwards towards him. She can’t help how much she needs him, how desperate she is.</p><p>He places long, slow strokes of his tongue on her, before parting her like a rose bud. She closes her eyes, trying to focus on the sensation, but she’s so overwhelmed and all she needs is one more stroke before she explodes, her orgasm bursting through her and she cries out. He doesn’t stop, though, working with her through it, sucking on her clit and causing her to make sounds he has never heard before. He carries her through her second, third, fourth, and on the fifth orgasm, she’s spent, thighs tightening around his head as she comes. </p><p>“Scott,” she breathes, a prayer on her lips.</p><p>“I need you inside of me, now,” she says desperately, and he obeys.</p><p>He’s on top of her, kissing her breasts, sucking and pulling and she swears she almost comes a sixth time. Really, she should be embarrassed, but Scott never makes her feel that way. He grins when he realises the effect he has on her, and smiles at her contentedly. </p><p>“I love you,” she says, and their lips meet again.</p><p>“It was you all along. It’s always been you, Tess. Whether I was brave enough to admit it or not,” he says, lining himself against her entrance.</p><p>“Soulmates,” she agrees, and he enters her.</p><p>They move in unison, bodies so attuned with each other she wonders how she’s gone this long without experiencing this. He’s gentle, letting her feel him entirely, and she feels so full she thinks she could go like this forever. She knows she’s close, moaning against his lips and his hands are everywhere. He is everywhere.</p><p>“Tess, I’m going to come,” he whispers, and he tries to pull out of her, but she presses him closer to her.</p><p>“It’s okay. It’s okay, Scott,” she says, giving him permission to let go inside of her. </p><p>They come together, so in sync, just like they’ve been for their entire lives, their voices a symphony as they find their release in each other.</p><p>After, they bask in the afterglow, her legs entangled in his, and he holds on to her as if she’s the only thing in his life that matters. And let’s face it, she is.</p><p>“What happens if this doesn’t work?” she asks, looking at him with so much tenderness, he melts.</p><p>“Tess, trust me, it will,” he says, more sure than anything he’s ever been in his life.</p><p>“But what if it doesn’t?” she replies, “I love you so much.”</p><p>He leans in, capturing her lips with his.</p><p>“T, I’ll always choose you.” He says, tightening his hold on her.</p><p>“Promise?” she asks.</p><p>He kisses her pinky finger.</p><p>“I promise.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thank you for reading! this is a story i've been thinking about, so i thought why not give it a shot. also i realised how much i hate writing intimate scenes so i think i'll leave those up to the other writers (i got so uncomfortable i had to take a few breaks) but anyways hope you enjoyed it x</p></blockquote></div></div>
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